For chronical dialysis in a center, dialysis machines are used successively by plural patients. Therefore, germs have to be prevented from being transmitted from one patient to the other. Thus, today in most cases hot disinfection of the dialysis fluid circuit is carried out between two dialysis treatments.
Depending on the apparatus variant and the manufacturer, the duration of the total process ranges from about 25 to 40 minutes. Such process is substantially composed of three phases:                a heating phase, wherein disinfecting fluid, e.g. water, is heated until about 85° C. are reached, which generally takes about 15 minutes,        a disinfection phase of approx. 15 minutes during which the different flow paths of the dialysis fluid circuit to be disinfected are rinsed with the disinfecting fluid and        a phase during which the system is flushed and cooled, which again takes approx. 10 minutes.        
Alternatively or additionally, chemical cold disinfections of the dialysis fluid circuit and of the dialysis machine are carried out. For this purpose, for example hypochlorite or peracetic acid are applied. This type of disinfection is carried out e.g. on a weekly basis only.
Said two disinfection methods entail several drawbacks. The current hot disinfection process requires high expenditure of time and energy, for example.
Furthermore, for the chemical disinfection for example additional chemicals such as citric acid, hypochlorite or peracetic acid are required. This incurs additional costs and, in addition, said chemicals have to be handled. This does not only entail increased efforts but further results in a plurality of potential sources of error. For instance, due the fact that the container holding disinfectant or decalcifier, e.g. citric acid, usually remains connected to the dialysis machine, there is the risk of such agent being sucked during treatment. For preventing this risk comprehensive protective measures are required on the apparatus side. Furthermore, for example citric acid, when being spilled, is very sticky and etching.
It is another drawback of chemical disinfection that the conductivity of some agents is within the range of the conductivity of concentrates which are required for conditioning dialysis fluid so that it cannot be safely identified whether a decalcifier canister has inadvertently been connected instead of the appropriate concentrate.
Moreover, the required chemicals are partially very aggressive and attack primarily stainless steels, particular plastic and ceramic materials. This is potentially resulting in corrosion of system components, which requires the use of high-quality materials.
Alternative disinfectants the use of which is known in dentistry, for example, are super-oxidized solutions (SOS: “super-oxidized solution” or SOW: “super-oxidized-water”).
SOS are solutions that are produced by electro-chemical processes, especially electrolysis, from water and salts (e.g. sodium or potassium chloride). Accordingly, for example sodium hydroxide and hypochlorous acid as well as chlorine radicals are produced. An SOS as disinfecting solution shows excellent disinfecting results and attacks single-cell organisms, especially fungi, bacteria, viruses and spores, whereas multi-cell organisms such as human tissue are/is not attacked.
Moreover, SOS offer further advantages: They are stable solutions, are not corrosive and generally act quickly, can be pH-neutral to acid and can have a shelf life of up to one year. The starting substances for the production of SOS are inexpensive and the final product is environmentally friendly.